Linux.com Relaunched Under New Management

mikesd81 writes "Linux.com has been relaunched under the direction of the Linux Foundation. The goal of the site is supposed to be a community hub that lets the Linux community participate and contribute their knowledge. An initial look as the site is today makes it look like a news site. Linux Foundation Executive Director Jim Zemlin insists that the plan wasn't for Linux.com to be a breaking news organization but rather as a resource for the Linux community as a whole."

For newbies?

[hkz]

When I first became interested in Linux around 2005 or so and wanted to find out more about it, one of the first sites I tried was linux.com. (Hey, why not, I learnt about distros a little while later.) What a mess it was. The new site is a lot better, but I still don't think it has the portal quality that a site with the standing of "linux.com" needs. Where is the elevator pitch about what Linux is, where is the explanation of the ways it's similar to Windows and the ways it's not? Instead we get press releases from the Linux Foundation. Think of the other 95% of the world when you're scaping linux.com, guys.

Re:For newbies?

[skeeto]

If you think that was bad, check out linux.org right now. It's probably one of the most worthless websites out there, yet it gets to sit at #1 in search results for "linux" because too many people foolishly link to it.

Re:For newbies?

[elrous0]

Sadly, and all-too-typical problem with OSS sites. An opening page full of bug fixes, version numbers, etc. and not a single paragraph explaining what the OSS app actually *IS* and *DOES*. Too many of these pages (and apps) are written by code monkeys who think they don't need to bring in actual writers or graphic designers.

Re:For newbies?

[kimvette]

kernel.org looks horrible though, and does not represent what a (complete) Linux system is capable site.

kernel.org is designed by geeks, for geeks. What is needed is a central site which is designed by designers, with marketing types' input, for regular people. THAT and getting the "RTFM" and "it's open source, fix it yourself" folks out of positions where they respond to user questions on project mailing lists and messageboards.

Re:After seeing this

[plasticsquirrel]

Since at least 1998 they have had that same ugly, ugly layout and worthless lists of Linux distros. It's like a crystallization of what was wrong with the OSS community in the 90's. Want to use Linux? No problem, here's a big list of distros that will be completely meaningless to you. Ubuntu is in there, but it's down at the bottom, way below Slackware and MkLinux, which (for all you know) are more popular and easier to use than it. This site was an epic failure in the 90's, and it still is, unfortunately. It's a shame, too, because it could be much better if they just threw out all the old stuff and started from scratch with something simple.